Changing your real-life avatar — how CRISPR will redefine what makes us human

I love RPG games. Games that immerse you in a magical, fantastical world with dragons, wizards, quests, and more importantly, character customization. You see, when you start these games you get this character customization screen in which you select the race, hair colour, eye colour, and build of your character (along with many, many more unnecessarily complicated options).

This is pretty standard stuff for any RPG game, but what if I told you that some of the smartest people in the world are working on a way to make this “character customization” a reality? What if I told you we could use gene editing to edit the characteristics of human beings?

In 1987, a group of researchers discovered CRISPR, a cheaper, more effective way to edit your genetics. Now, your genetics are what make you who you are. They determine your height, your eye colour, how susceptible you are to certain diseases, etc. so the invention of CRISPR was an absolute game-changer for gene editing.

Using CRISPR, we can take certain parts of your DNA and remove them, replace them, or even modify them. So, how does it work?

Well, it all starts with the DNA that needs to be edited. Every DNA strand has a sequence consisting of the letters A, C, G, and T. These letters represent the four types of bases found in a DNA molecule. With this sequence, scientists create an RNA (a messenger of the sequence) that corresponds with the sequence.

Next, the RNA is attached to a protein called Cas9. This combination is then introduced to the target cell, in which the Cas9 locates the target sequence based on the RNA and cuts the DNA. At this point, scientists can modify, delete, or replace the DNA which has just been sliced.

Now, this process can have a lot of implications. I mean, just the idea of being able to edit parts of your genome is insane! We could change your hair colour, your eye colour, your height, all from this one process.

But of course, one question remains. Is it ethical?

Is it ethical to edit our genes? Change who we are? I mean, what if this technology ends up in the wrong hands? Imagine what someone with bad intentions could do with this technology. Being able to control what makes us who we are is a very powerful tool and there will likely be a conflict on who deserves that power.

On the other hand, this may serve as a stepping stone to a new generation of humans. Imagine being able to optimize our entire species. We could make ourselves stronger, faster, smarter. There would be no limit to what we could accomplish. Any imperfections could be repaired with CRISPR, which means technically, we would have a “perfect” society.

But who defines what “perfect” is? What if governments and corporations use this to their advantage and create their own versions of an “optimal” society?

These are questions we’ll have to answer in order to move forward. Gene editing is bound to become mainstream, it’s just a matter of time, and when it does come, we need to make sure we’re being improved, not manipulated. We need to maintain control over who we are as we begin to customize our own avatars.

Key Takeaways:

• Advancements being made in gene-editing with tools like CRISPR will drastically change how we live our lives.
• CRISPR will soon allow us to edit things like the colour of our eyes, the colour of our hair, our height, etc.
• This tool could be used to advance the human race and create the most optimal version of our species, but it could also be used against us if it falls into the wrong hands.